Machining of brittle materials has traditionally been slow, expensive, and prone to creating surface damage, decreasing strength and service lifetime. The objective of this project is to (1) enhance the machinability of dental ceramics in terms of both increasing the rate of material removal and decreasing the damage incurred during machining and further to (2) via chemical tempering, increase clinical success by increasing strength and fatigue life while decreasing wear. Two novel machining concepts will be explored to create these enhancements; machining in a chemically active high-temperature bath and machining with in-situ chemical tempering. Four specific aims will be investigated: (1) investigate high-temperature machining to increase the efficiency of machining, (2) tailor chemical reactions during machining in a high- temperature salt bath to promote high material removal rates with low surface damage, (3) determine the effect of selected chemical tempering methods on surface integrity, fatigue strength, and wear in conjunction with Projects 1, 2, and 3, and (4) incorporate chemical tempering and high-temperature machining into a single process.